1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to article carriers for vehicles.
2. Description of the Art
A variety of different article or cargo carriers have been devised to transport articles or cargo on the exterior surfaces of vehicles, such as on the roof or trunk of an automotive vehicle. Such carriers typically include a pair of side rails fixed to and extending longitudinally of the vehicle exterior panel. At least a pair of cross rails are connected to and extend laterally between the side rails for supporting a load on the article carrier and to provide convenient tie-down of the load or cargo. Such cross rails are typically supported above the vehicle exterior surface by stanchions mounted on opposite ends of each cross rail which slidably engage the side rails.
In order to facilitate the transport of different sized loads or cargo, slidable and even removable cross rails have been provided in vehicle article carriers. At least one and, frequently, all of the cross rails on a vehicle article carrier are provided with stanchions which slide within a side rail and include a releasable latch which engages the side rail in one of a number of discrete positions or at any variably selected position along the length of the side rail. Such latch mechanisms are mounted in each stanchion and include rotatable knobs, cam levers, clamps and pivotal hooks which releasably engage a side rail.
While the use of stanchions and latch means provides an effective sliding, lockable adjustment of cross rails at selective positions along the length of longitudinally extending side rails, such a structure is not without its drawbacks. As each cross rail includes a pair of stanchions, one mounted at each end and movably engaging opposed side rails, movement of the cross rail requires the release of the latches in each stanchion before the cross rail can be moved along the side rails to the desired position. These unlatch and subsequent re-latch operations require two people, one on each side of the vehicle, or requires a single person to circle between both sides of the vehicle several times to first release the latches and move the cross rail to the desired position and then to re-latch the latches to fix the cross rail in the desired position along the side rails. This is a time consuming task for a single individual and makes adjustment of the cross rail difficult and undesirable. Further, it is difficult for a single person to move a cross rail squarely along the side rail when only exerting force on the cross rail from one side of the vehicle.
Thus, it would be desirable to provide a vehicle article carrier with adjustable cross rail which overcomes the drawbacks of previously devised article carriers having movable cross rails. It would also be desirable to provide a vehicle article carrier with a cross rail which is movable along the length of the side rails from only one side of the vehicle and by only a single operator. It would also be desirable to provide a vehicle article carrier in which a cross rail is movable along the length of the side rails from either side of the vehicle without requiring the operator to move between opposite sides of the vehicle. Finally, it would be desirable to provide a vehicle article carrier with a movable cross rail which insures that the cross rail remains square to the side rails between all longitudinal movement of the cross rail along the side rails even though the operator exerts moving force on the cross rail from only one side of the vehicle.